Golden Boy Award nominees include Raheem Sterling & Adnan Januzaj

The 40-man shortlist for the Golden Boy awards have been announced with Liverpool's Raheem Sterling and Manchester United's Adnan Januzaj the frontrunners for the prize.

After the disappointment of not having a single England player when FIFA today announced the 23-man Ballon d'Or shortlist, the Three Lions are much better represented for the best player in Europe under the age of 21.

Calum Chambers and Luke Shaw, both formerly of Southampton, are contenders for this year's award, while Everton's John Stones is also included.

There are nine youngsters in total representing the Premier League, three more than any other league in Europe. The Bundesliga make up six of the nominations while La Liga, Serie A and Ligue 1 all have five players shortlisted.

Liverpool lead the way in terms of players at a single club, Lazar Markovic who signed from Sevilla this summer makes the cut while Divock Origi on-loan at Lille also finds himself in contention.

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Players who have won this award in the past have typically gone on to achieve a huge amount of success. Previous winners include Wayne Rooney, Paul Pogba, Cesc Fabregas, Sergio Aguero and Lionel Messi.

Albeit not everyone follows that same route - Anderson in 2008 and his Brazilian teammate Alexander Pato in 2009 are evidence of that.

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